It seems like all the news about Bitcoin lately has been about how high the fees are, how slow the transactions are, and how congested the mempools are. This is why the next major Bitcoin fork is so important. Named Bitcoin Atom ($BCA), this hard fork is poised to finally solve, or at least improve, many of these tough problems that have been plaguing Bitcoin for far too long.
So what is it? The Bitcoin Atom hard fork, set to happen around the end of January 2018, will introduce two important improvements to the protocol -- atomic swaps and Lightning Network.
Atomic swaps basically enable the holder of a cryptocurrency to exchange one currency for another, directly with another person, without having to go through a third party such as an exchange. This is possible due to Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLC's).
Put simply, HTLC's are smart contracts that are time sensitive, and force the receiver to add a cryptographic signature to the contract to acknowledge they received the currency, otherwise the currency will automatically be returned to the sender once the set amount of time elapses.
The other major change that will be introduced by Bitcoin Atom is the implementation of the Lightning Network. Lightning Network allows off-chain channels to be setup directly between two parties. This channel can be used to conduct transactions without immediately posting to the blockchain, meaning that not every transaction will be charged a fee nor will each transaction need to be validated immediately. Once the channel is closed, the transactions are bundled and added to the blockchain as one reducing the load on the network, and reducing fees for transactions.
Another interesting thing about Bitcoin Atom is that it is a Hybrid Consensus Model -- combining both Proof of Stake and Proof of Work, which will decrease the power Bitcoin miners have over the network and increase stability.
Once news of this fork goes mainstream, I expect the price of Bitcoin to take off for a couple of reasons. First, many people will want to take advantage of the free Bitcoin Atom coins that Bitcoin holders will receive at a 1:1 ratio. The second reason is because this is the first time that some real solutions for Bitcoin's high fee/slow speed issues are being offered since Bitcoin2x failed to launch.
If you would like to learn more about Bitcoin Atom, here is a link to their website: https://bitcoinatom.io
Thanks for reading, hope it was informative! :)